The Connecticut Senate race provides an interesting test case for the proposition that the old political rules don’t apply this year. As demonstrated by last night’s debate between Democrat Richard Blumenthal and Republican Linda McMahon, this election seems to be a referendum on the resumes of the two candidates. Voters are being asked to choose between a man who has spent his entire adult life on the public payroll and a woman who has spent her life in the private sector. Both have serious flaws. But the question is not only which of those flaws (Blumenthal’s lying about his military service during the Vietnam War or McMahon’s involvement with the disreputable world of professional wrestling) is more damning but also what sort of a potential senator fits the mood of the electorate this fall.
Polls have fluctuated, with the latest ones showing the Democrat gaining ground after earlier surveys indicated that his lead, once huge, had shrunk down to nearly nothing. But as Paul Bass, the editor of the New Haven Independent, wrote last week in the New York Times, McMahon’s association with wrestling has helped rather than hurt her. That’s due not only to the changes in culture, which render the scripted violence of the WWE less appalling to the public, but also because its edgy tenor appeals to a wider demographic (including, as Bass notes, working-class and Hispanic voters, who are an important part of the Democrats’ base) than perhaps it once did.
As New York Times blogger Nate Silver has noted, there might be very few undecided voters left in this race, a fact that should work to Blumenthal’s advantage. But Blumenthal, the man the Times has called “Martha Coakley in Pants,” needed to demonstrate in this first debate that, whatever his own failings, his opponent was simply unsuitable to serve in the Senate. He did not do that last night and is unlikely to make that point stick in the month remaining before Election Day.
McMahon’s demonstrated ability to go toe-to-toe with Blumenthal in the debate and still emerge on her feet was crucial to her candidacy. In an election year in which even Connecticut’s liberal voters are largely dissatisfied with the political class and its addiction to spending and taxes, Blumenthal’s riposte to McMahon’s answers to a debate question about how to create jobs — “I’m not running to be an entrepreneur as a senator” — hit exactly the wrong note for 2010. If results from generic polls — such as Gallup’s survey, which showed a huge swing to the Republicans over Democrats — are credible, then there are going to be some results next month that will be driven by this wave of political sentiment in spite of the conventional wisdom about the individual candidates. For all the Democrats’ inherent advantages in that state, the Connecticut race may show how a flawed candidate running on a record of private business accomplishments and skepticism toward government will have an edge this November over another flawed one whose life has been spent in public office.
Damn it, why do the Jews get so many days off???
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(In all seriousness, it’s refreshing to know some people still take their faith seriously. I hope you all had a peaceful day).
Podhoretz the lying hypocrite: his message was written at 6:23 am on Yom Kippur, a clear violation of the fast. Typical neo-con ‘am ha’aretz, pretending to be pious. Disgusting ideologies attract disgusting people.
Great blog, guys.
No. 2 — you are really nasty; but in the spirit of Yom Kippur, you are forgiven.
Have an easy fast.
G’mar Chasima Tova.
May all the Jewish brethren at Commentary be sealed for a good year in the Book of Life.
#2 — every religion’s got ‘em. But then, so does everyone else.
“Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
“He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.”
Micah 6:7-8
Bob- I’m not a hypocrite, I don’t pretend to fast and then violate the commandments of sabbath by going online. In the spirit of Yom Kippur, read Bavli Yoma 87a and know you are not forgiven.
PS> “Chasima” is not Hebrew: the letter taf in the middle of a word and not at the beginning of an a syllable is not pronounced as an S, not even in deepest Ashkenazi ignorance.
Since we are picking nits: it´s “Pasaran” with one s.
The letter Taf is never proounced as an S in Hebrew. No, you’re not a hypocrite. Just an incredible schmuck. (Or should that be smuck?).
El Gordo: corregido
בעברית ה-ת באמת תמיד תף
למרות זאת אשכנזים עם הארץ הופכים ה-ת ל-ס
A Communist is now judging Jews on Yom Kippur?
NP, you were not incorrect the first time:
“No passaran” is Catalan; “no pasarán” is Spanish.
I write from Jerusalem, where the fast has been out for several hours. (Lest someone ask why I am writing while you folks in exile are still priaying.)
To #5 – The tav is not emphasized (therefore pronounced “s” in Ashkenazic pronunciation) because the het has a sheva (in its incarnation as a hataf-patah).
To #2 – Blogging on Yom Kippur is a violation of the work prohibition, but it is hardly “a clear violation of the fast” – unless blogging has an eating component that I am not aware of.
The letter tav when it is not emphasized (without a dagesh) is pronounced th (unvoiced interdental fricative) in the Hebrew that was used in most Arabic-speaking countries and among the pre-Sephardic Romaniote Jews of western Greece. The pronunciation t is used in Israel and in most Sephardic communities. In Italy it is d. Among Ashkenazim, of course, it is s. And in southern France, it was pronounced f, because of the acoustic similarity of the th and f sounds. For more about the language of the Jews of southern France, go to http://wwwljochnowitz.net/Essays/JudeoProvencal.html
All these pronunciations are historically and linguistically valid.
It is not hypocritical to suspend blogging as an act of courtesy to those who observe a holiday even if one is not observant, or is only partially observant, oneself.
Oops. http://www.jochnowitz.net/Essays/JudeoProvencal.html
All you vuntzes need to atone for helping o twist America into a hellhole that’s only “good for the Jews.” You truly are the kind of Jews who corrupt and endanger other Jews. Modern day rodefs.
Shana Tova and G’mar Hatima tova
May the year be good and hope you’re all sealed in the book of life.
Ashkenazi (T-S), Sephardi (T-Th), Catalan (Pas-Pass), Conservatives (old and neo), and Progressives.
May the Schwartz be with you!
If you think that the commandment to fast on Yom Kippur could possibly allow going online, engaging in secular debate, doing anything but praying then you are a true עם הארץ.
Even though I have given up on the nonsense of religion, at least I have done so after studying Shulchan, Gemara, and more. If you really think that abstaining from food and drink is the essence of Yom hakippurim, instead of merely a token of its importance, then you cannot possibly have achieved any kappara and it has all been for show.
I’ll respect a real frum Jew over your fake pseudo-Protestant Judaism-lite neo-conservative posing any day. And guess what: the truly frum and pious, like my family, prefer an honest atheist to a person who makes a mockery of Hashem by practicing Judaism as if it were a form of Christianity.
No pasaran, let me be the first to say how grateful I am that you’ve deigned to share your presence with us. I can only hope that we are worthy to receive the light of your wisdom.
JP:
L’Shanah Tovah and Hatimah Tovah.
I want to share with you something Rabbi Marshall Meyer wrote long ago:
It is from: “You Are My Witness: The Living Words of Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer”
“Amnesia:
In the mid-twentieth century, mankind is in a terrifying dilemma, because he has committed a terrible crime–he has played false to the purposes for which he has been created. His sin is that he has externalized that which must remain internal, and this he has lost his identity. We are all suffering from a critical attack of amnesia. We have forgotten who we are and why we are living in this world. Our essential, our inner life of spirituality and holiness, has been bartered away for mass entertainment, cheap thrills, and the world of physical possessions. “
Amazing — all the best.
Correction : “… and thus he has lost his identity” (not “and this has lost its identity”)
From: “You Are My Witness: The Living Words of Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer”
“Amnesia:
In the mid-twentieth century, mankind is in a terrifying dilemma, because he has committed a terrible crime–he has played false to the purposes for which he has been created. His sin is that he has externalized that which must remain internal, and thus he has lost his identity. We are all suffering from a critical attack of amnesia. We have forgotten who we are and why we are living in this world. Our essential, our inner life of spirituality and holiness, has been bartered away for mass entertainment, cheap thrills, and the world of physical possessions. ”
“In Hebrew the verb “kavo” means to wait, but from the same root comes “tikva” or hope.”
Marshall Meyer
re 2
No passaran Says:
“Podhoretz the lying hypocrite: his message was written at 6:23 am on Yom Kippur, a clear violation of the fast. Typical neo-con ‘am ha’aretz, pretending to be pious. Disgusting ideologies attract disgusting people.”
You know it is quite possible that Podhoretz wrote and/or sent that piece in a time zone that is ahead of ours in NY so it would not have been a violation. He could have had a non-Jewish friend submit it so again he wouldn’t have been in violation.
Also he may not even be Jewish: John is not exactly a Jewish name. Pohoretz is but that would be his father and his mother might not be Jewish…hence the first name John and then unless he converted somehow he is not really Jewish.
Since there is little Israel perspective here, or not enough to be generous, can I point you here on the Acre riots/pogrom: http://myrightword.blogspot.com/2008/10/how-to-plan-riot-or-pogrom.html (and if you want me to add some stuff at Contentiosn, I’m willing)
Contentions. Sorry. Isn’t there a spell check?